1. Technical Field
The invention relates to a drinking trough for, in particular, poultry, such as turkeys, chickens, chicks or the like, having at least one drinking valve that is assigned to a water-supply line, the drinking valve having a valve pin that can be moved in order to discharge water, and additionally having at least one water-collecting bowl and a starter body, both being assigned to a respective drinking valve, and also to a method of dispensing or regulating water flow from a drinking valve into a water-collecting bowl.
2. Prior Art
Drinking troughs of the type mentioned here allow animals, in particular poultry such as, for example, turkeys, hens, geese, ducks and also the young of the aforementioned animals, to obtain automatically the water they require. For this purpose, the drinking trough has an elongate water-supply line, to which a plurality of drinking valves are preferably connected at regular intervals. Each drinking valve is assigned a water-collecting bowl. Water discharged by the drinking valve, to be precise in particular water that is not drunk directly by the animals, accumulates in the water-collecting bowl. As soon as most or all of the water supply in the water-collecting bowl has been used up (drunk by the animals, evaporated, splashed out of the water-collecting bowl, etcetera), the animals preferably can open a respective drinking valve for a short period of time directly, by means of their beaks or bills, and drink the water discharged from the supply line through the drinking valve either directly or from the collecting bowl.
The known drinking troughs of the type described above have proven successful for the most part for chickens, chicks and broilers. The known drinking troughs, however, have not proven successful for breeding and fattening turkeys. In particular young turkeys and turkey chicks are often not capable of actuating the drinking valves directly and it is problematic for young turkeys and turkey chicks to obtain the water they require via drinking valves. Moreover, the problems concerning the soiling of the water-collecting bowls and the splashing of water are more pronounced in the case of turkeys than in the case of other animals.
A recently developed drinking trough disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20030084854 to Schumacher addressed some of the difficulties experienced by young turkeys in using traditional drinking troughs. More particularly, that invention employs an elongated tubular structure, an elongated rod structure, or an elongated valve pin within an elongated tubular structure as an actuator lever to allow the bird to more easily actuate the drinking valve and receive a fresh supply of water. That invention further points out the utility of the elongated actuator levers in avoiding the problems of soiling and water splashing by permitting the water from the drinking valve to travel down the lever into a water-collecting bowl.
Accordingly, there is always a need for an improved drinking trough. More particularly, there is a need for a drinking trough, and a method for dispensing water therefrom, in which the problems concerning soiling and water splashing may be avoided in a relatively reliable manner and in which turkeys in particular, to be precise also turkey chicks, can automatically obtain the water they require to a sufficient extent, preferably throughout the breeding and fattening processes. Further, there is a need for such a drinking trough to be able to fill and refill automatically as water is removed from the drinking trough so as to allow even those birds incapable of activating the drinking valve to obtain water. It is to these needs among others that this invention is related.